History has shown that successive NSW and federal governments cannot be trusted to act to protect our native forests from logging. Koala numbers have dropped by 40 per cent in Queensland and by a third in NSW over the past 20 years, and they are declining in South Gippsland in Victoria. There are no wild koalas left in the ACT.

Logging in native forests that are home to local koala populations has placed the future of the koala at the mercy of state forestry agencies. In 2012 Forest NSW has been under fire for risking koala habitat in Pine Creek State Forest on the NSW Mid-North Coast and Tanja State Forest in NSW South-East forests. The future survival of the koala must not be undermined further for the sake of the dying woodchipping industry.

Following the Senate inquiry the federal government fell short of granting national protection to the koala, listing them as a vulnerable species only in NSW, Queensland and the ACT. Further, the federal government did not close existing loopholes to this recent 'vulnerable species' listing which means state forestry bodies can continue to log native forests that provide crucial koala habitat.